John Megraw was born in 1819 at Ballygowan, Ireland. In 1846, he married Isabella Wallace of Newtownards, County Down and in 1849 they emigrated to Canada with two small children. They lived for two years at Richmond Hill and in October of 1851, John set out to locate a homestead in the newly-opened tract known as the Queen's Bush. He walked from Richmond Hill to Owen Sound through the bush to Southampton, up the Saugeen and finally back to Richmond Hill by the Garafraxa Road. After some misfortune and distress, Mr. Megraw finally moved his family to this area.
In 1854 they went to the farm in the "Gore of Greenock" at Lot 1, Con. 22. The original log house was replaced in the late 1880's by the brick house which is still in use.
At the turn of the century there was a flourishing orchard on the farm including many varieties of early and late apples. The choicest apples were packed in barrels and shipped by railroad to the overseas market. The less choice ones were dried or hauled by team and wagon to Chepstow to be made into apple butter. But the orchard was wiped out by the severe frost of 1933.
To John and Isabella were born twelve children: Robert John and Grace, born in Ireland; Hugh, who was killed at the age of twelve by a rolling log while he was helping during the building of the first barn on the Samuel Gordon place on the Base Line; Elizabeth (Mrs. James McVeety); James Alexander, who died of pneumonia in 1883; Ainsley, editor of the Paisley Advocate from 1885 to 1892, during which time he published the 25th anniversary edition of the Advocate, which remains the most accurate and comprehensive history of the village of Paisley, and was quoted at some length in Norman Robertson's History of Bruce County; Martha (Mrs. Andrew Sinclair); Agnes Jane, who died at the age of eleven; Hugh, born the year the first Hugh was killed and named after him, but this Hugh lived to serve in World War I, and died in France in 1916; Wallace, who farmed on the property taken up by his father until a short time before his death in 1952; Isabella, who died in infancy; and Sara (Mrs. S.E. Hamilton).
Of the male members of the family, only Ainsley and Wallace married. Ainsley married Annie Nelson, but she died in 1886 along with their infant daughter. He later married Ada Killins, but she too died in childbirth. Wallace married Christie Brown of Bruce Township. Their family of six were all daughters: Annie May, who died at the age of fourteen; Gertrude (Mrs. Roy Gedney) who died in 1974; Irene (Mrs. Neilson Stark) who died in 1973; Winnifred; Edna (Mrs. Frank Brandon), now living in Elmira; and Ola (Mrs. Gordon Fraser) now living in Collingwood.
So the Megraw name has died out in the township, the only surviving "Megraw" in the direct line being Miss Winnifred, who makes her home in Toronto. But the family farm at Lot 1, Con. 22 has been owned by direct descendants for 145 years, by John Megraw, by Wallace Megraw, his son, and by Harold Stark, his great grandson.
Fred
STARK, was born and raised in Paisley and currently lives in Niagara-on-the-Lake. Fred, is a direct descendant of the captioned couple, see his Pedigree Chart.
Other Ancestral Families for Fred are; STARK/ LOCKHART; IRVING/ TRIBE; DEWSTOW; MEGRAW; WALLACE; BROWN/ McLEAN; ELLIS; GRAHAM; STANLEY & McLEAN/ McDONALD.
Patricia "Patsy" REID - FLETT , was born and raised in Greenock Township and as well as being a direct descendant of the captioned couple she is also a direct descendant of a principal family on our Home Page, see Patsy's Pedigree Chart.
Other Ancestral Families for Patsy are; REID; KEYES; SAUNDERS; McGILLIVRAY; BROWN; STARK/ LOCKHART; IRVING/ TRIBE; DEWSTOW; MEGRAW; WALLACE & BROWN/ McLEAN.
Barbara WILSON-
RAE-
FRANCE is a direct descendant of this family. See her
Pedigree Chart.
Other Ancestral Families connected to Barb are;
KNEESHAW;
McLELLAND/ COOK;
ALEXANDER/ READ;
IRWIN/ RODGERS;
GROGAN/ STEPHENSON;
McVEETY/ McLEAN/ McTAVISH;
MEGRAW &
WALLACE.
